Running-gear for vehicles



(No Model.)

H. C. SWAN.

' O YRUNNING GEAR EOE VEHICLES. y

- NO- 558,230- 'PatentedApn 14, 1896,

AN DREW EJSRAHAM, PHOTO-UTMQ-YIASNINGTUNRC.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY C. SVAN, OF OSHKOSH, IVISCONSIN.

RUNNING-GEAR FR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,230, dated April 14, 1896. Application iiled June 3, 1895. `Serial No. 551,474. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, HENRY C. SWAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Oshkosh, in the county of Winnebago and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Runnin g-Gear for Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a running-gear for vehicles Which will be strong, durable, and cheaply constructed, which can be used without the perch connection between the front and rear axles, which will allow the body to be constructed so as to drop as low as desired with reference to the axles, and which will permit the wagon to turn short.

I accomplish the desired results by the construction hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated in the drawings, in which- Figure l is a side view `of a central longitudinal section of the front end of a vehicle provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top view of said running-gear, the vwagon-body removed. Fig. 3 is a top view of the bottom fifth-wheel section.

I will now describe the construction shown, referring to the parts thereof by letter.

A represents the front axle and A/ the axlebed. The front spring may be of any suitable construction, and it must be secured to front axle and the lower iifth-wheel section. I prefer to use the common elliptical spring, as shown in Figs. l and 2, consisting of an upper section B and a lower section B'. Then this form of spring is used,the lower section B is clipped or otherwise secured to the front axle, while the middle of the upper section is clipped or otherwise secured to the front part of the lower fifth-wheel section.

C represents the upper fifth-wheel section,

circles c and c rest and rub upon the circles cl and CW, respectively. The front part of the circle CZ is clipped or otherwise secured to the middle of the upper spring-section B.

F represents a finger or circle guard, which is bolted to the circle d and'extends over and onto the circle c, and E represents a finger or circle guard, which is secured to the circle d and passes over and onto the circle c'. These two circle-guards hold the fifth-wheel sections in the described relation to each other and relieve the king-bolt or pivot of much strain to which it would otherwise be subjected.

G represents a brace, the front of which is pivoted to the front axle. When the form of spring shown in the drawings is employed, this pivotal connection with the axle is best made through a plate b', to which the brace is pivoted, and which is itself clipped to the lower spring-section B', this spring being, as before stated, rigidly connected with the axle.

The rear end of the brace G is supported by means which permit said rear end to move backward and forward slightly in the described operation of the parts. The means employed is a link I, which is pivoted at its lower end to the rear end of the brace G and at its upper end'to-the rear circle d' of the lower fifth-wheel section.

I-l represents a brace, which is pivotally connected at its front end to the front part of the lower fifth-wheel section. When the form of front spring shown in the drawings is employed, the pivotal connection between the brace H and the fth-wheel is Ybest made through a plate b, to which the brace is pivoted and which is itself clipped or otherwise secured to the upper spring-secti0n B, said spring being, as before stated, rigidly connected with the front part of said lower Afifthwheel section. The rear end of the brace II is pivoted tothe brace G at a point equidistant from the front ends of both.

I do not intend to make any claim in the application to any novelty in the particular fifth-wheel shown and described. Therefore any iifth-wheel device is the equivalent of that described, provided it is susceptible of being connected aud combined with the other parts in substantially the manner hereinbefore described.

When a wagon containing the described construction is in .use and the spring B B' is IOO depressed by the weightof the body and its load, the braces G and H move relatively .to positions more nearly parallel. The two parts B B of the spring' necessarily preserve their relative positions the one over the other, because the braces G and H are pivoted together at a point equidistant from the front ends of both. The relative movement of the two spring-sections will therefore be vertical. As the braces G and H move toward the parallel position, the rear end of the brace G must of necessity move rearward to a small degree, which movement is permitted by the described connection between said rear end and the lower fifth-wheel section. The dotted lines in Fig. l show diagrammatically the relative position, of the parts after such movement.

Since the braces G and II and the link I are all connected with the lower fifth-wheel and the parts which move with it, the described construction is operative in all positions which the body and front axle may assu me relative to each other.

Having described my invention, I claiml. In running-gears for vehicles, the combination of the wagon-body, the iiXed fifthwheel section secured thereto, the front axle, a spring` fixed thereon, and the movable fifthwheel section which is iixed upon said spring and lies beneath the fixed iifth-wheel section, with braces G and II pivoted together at a point equidistant from their front ends, said braces being pivotally connected at their front ends with the movable fifth-wheel section and front axle, and a device substantially as described, suspending,1 a rearward extension of one of said braces from the rear part of the movable fifth-wheel section, whereby the parts are maintained in operative relation without a perch, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In running-gears for vehicles, the combination of the front spring, and fifth-wheel, with the brace G pivotally connected at its front end with one of the spring-sections, and connected` at its rear end substantially as described with the rear part of the fifthwheel, whereby said rear end may move backward, and a brace H pivotally connected at its rear end with the brace G at a point equidistant from the front ends of said two parts, and pivotally connected at its front end with the other spring-section, substantially as and A for the purpose specified.

3. In running-gears for vehicles, the combination of the front axle, the front spring, and fifth-wheel connected substantially as described, with the brace G pivotally connected at its front end to the lower spring-section, a link I pivotally connected at its ends to the rear part of the lower fifth-wheel section and to the rear end of brace G, and the brace II pivotally connected at its front end with the upper spring-section and pivoted at its rear end to the brace G at a point equidistant from the front ends of both parts, substantially and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY C. SWAN.

Iitnesscs E. L. THURsON, E. A. ANeELL. 

